Back
LOSING BODY HEAT IN CATS AND DOGS First broadcast on www.provet.co.uk |
This information is provided by Provet for educational purposes only.
You should seek the advice of your veterinarian if your pet is ill as only he or she can correctly advise on the diagnosis and recommend the treatment that is most appropriate for your pet.
Incredible as it might seem the organisers of Crufts 2000 had to make numerous announcements about dogs being in distress in locked cars in their car parks. Even quite short periods of confinement in a car in hot weather can be fatal ...why ?
If you are exposed to high environmental temperatures, perform strenuous exercise or get very excited your body temperature rises....and if it get too high it can be serious - even fatal. Fortunately you have several mechanisms to help keep you cool but dogs and cats do not benefit from these, as demonstrated by this table of temperature regulation mechanisms in the different species
| Humans | Dogs/Cats |
| Alter environment to decrease temperature...open windows to increase air movement and cooling | Pets cannot open windows |
| Move to a cooler environment | Pets cannot get out of locked car and move to a cooler spot |
| Remove clothing | Pets can not remove their haircoat...which is an excellent insulator, making heat retention worse |
| Sweating - humans have a large number of sweat glands in the skin. When the sweat evaporates off the skin surface it has a cooling effect | Cats and dogs do not have sweat glands over their body skin (they only have a few on the feet) |
| In extremely hot weather humans can apply cold water to their heads and bodies to keep cool | Pets can not immerse themselves in cold water when they are locked in a car |
| Some heat can be lost on the breath | Dogs use panting as a major way of losing body heat. Unfortunately, panting requires a lot of muscular activity and effort - which actually increases the generation of body heat. In addition rapid, shallow breathing (as occurs during panting) can lead to reduced oxygen carrying in the blood. |
In summary, Dogs, cats and other animals should NEVER be left unattended in vehicles during warm weather.
Updated October 2013